How to Add Mental Stimulation to Your Puppies Routine
- 9 hours ago
- 6 min read
If you like to do interactive things with your puppy to ultimately tire them out and help them calm down, then this is the article for you. Here are five simple ways you can easily add mental stimulation to your puppy's everyday routine without spending a lot of money or adding hours to your day.
When people think of wearing out a puppy, they immediately think of exercise, longer walks, more playtime, more running around the yard. While physical exercise is important, it's only part of the picture. A puppy's brain needs exercise too.
Mental stimulation helps reduce boredom, builds confidence, improves problem-solving skills, and can even decrease unwanted behaviors like chewing, barking, digging, and getting into trouble around the house.
Turn mealtime into a brain game
Instead of simply pouring your puppy's food into a bowl, make your puppy work for their meal. Use the meal for training, and you're accomplishing a lot. You're killing two birds with one stone.
Ideas for using the food with training include:
Food puzzles, such as a stuffed Kong or a lick mat,
Stuffed rubber toys that are similar to Kongs, but also the puppy can move them around and get the kibble out as it falls out of little holes and onto the ground so that they can eat it after they've done the work.
A snuffle mat, which is like fake grass. You put treats into the grass, and they have to forage and find the treats inside that fake grass. It's very good enrichment for the puppy.
Scatter your puppy's kibble onto the grass in your backyard. Tell the puppy to find it. They'll have a great time looking for that food and foraging through the grass.
There are multiple benefits of turning mealtime into a brain game. They include slowing down the eating process because a lot of puppies eat too fast. It encourages natural foraging instincts. It burns mental energy because the puppy has to think. And it makes mealtime more exciting. You don't have to do this every day with every meal, but every once in a while it's a good idea.
Teach your puppy something new every week
Mental stimulation doesn't always mean complicated tricks. Your puppy loves learning.
Some simple skills that you can do include:
Teaching the touch command or target training. I use target pads. We put these pads on the ground; the puppy's paw has to touch it, and then they get a food reward.
Practice with your puppy going to their bed from a distance. Stand 10 feet away from the bed and say, “Go to your bed,” and see if they can do it. When they do it, you say yes, and you give them the food reward.
Tell the puppy to wait. Have some food in your hand. Have them figure out how to sit or lie down, but don't cue them. Just say the word “wait.” They have to be patient. Learn frustration tolerance. Learn how to wait and be calm. This is a very good mental stimulation activity for your puppy.
Work with your puppy on leave-it. Get a sock or get something that they like to get in their mouth. Put it on the ground, tell them to leave it. When they back away, say yes and give them the food reward. This is a great way to teach them not to get things in their mouth that they're not supposed to have.
Do a game called “Find Your Toy.” You name a toy, and ask the puppy to get it out of the pile and bring it back to you. You'd be surprised at how quickly your puppy can learn to do something like that.
Keep training sessions short. Five minutes is often plenty for a puppy. Learning itself is mentally exhausting.
Let your puppy use their nose
I have a 10-month-old Golden Doodle that I work with at my house periodically. And I notice that when I take him out to the grass, he likes to sniff around a lot. I encourage the owners of this puppy to do the same thing with him. Their nose is one of the most powerful tools they have.
Some other simple scent games include:
Hiding treats around the room. I took a German Shepherd to Dick's Sporting Goods once with the owners, and the dog was bored because everything there was so easy to do. We got some treats, and we hid them throughout the store on shelves behind items, and the German Shepherd puppy found them very quickly. It was mentally stimulating for that puppy. After ten minutes, it lay down and took a nap right in the store. It was so tired.
Put treats under cups and let your puppy find the right cup. This is a lot of fun, and you'd be surprised how quickly your puppy can pick it up and find the treat under the cup
Have the puppy smell something that's in a Kong, and then you hide the Kong somewhere in the house when they're not looking. Then you tell them to find it, and they'll go around the house, and they'll find it probably within 60 seconds.
These activities build confidence while exercising your puppy's brain in a very natural way.
Rotate toys instead of leaving them out
When I go to a client's house, and they have toys all over the place, I tell them to put the toys in a bin and bring them up high so your puppy can't see them. Give the puppy one toy at a time. Many owners that I go to have 20, 30, or more toys for their puppy, but you don't want to give the puppy access to the toys all at once. Eventually the puppy's going to lose interest in all of them.
Here's what you do instead. Keep the toys up high, bring one toy out for a few days, give it to the puppy, and interact with the puppy. Maybe it's a rope for playing tug, or they're learning how to fetch a ball. And then once they get tired of that, you do something else. The novelty of the fresh toy keeps your puppy engaged without buying more toys.
Let your puppy solve small problems
Grab some treats and hold them to the puppy's nose. Don't tell the puppy what to do. When they sit, give them a reward. When they lie down on their own, give the puppy a reward. You want to make sure that you reward good behavior on an ongoing basis like this. Let the puppy think instead of constantly giving them direction all the time.
Dog training isn't about giving direction or commands all the time. It's about teaching your puppy how to think on their own.
Here are some other examples of how to let your puppy solve problems:
Use a puzzle that your puppy has to get the food out of by maneuvering different compartments, lifting up latches, sliding some things over, and taking some pieces out so they can get the food. This is a lot of fun for them, and it's mentally stimulating.
Put a hidden treat inside of a stuffed Kong surrounded by their kibble. Tell them that they're going to get their favorite treat and to find it. They have to get their kibble out first, and then they can get the treat.
If you have a little dog park where you live, have them start using that obstacle course. I worked with a Bernedoodle a couple of years ago who loved the obstacle course. He loved going up a ramp, walking on a plank, and going through a tunnel. This was very exciting for him, and it's also great mental stimulation.
You want to avoid making everything too easy. You want to make it a challenge for the puppy.
Another thing that can help build the puppy's confidence is walking up and down stairs. If they're resistant and reluctant to walk up and down stairs, a good confidence builder is to use stairs as a tool to build their confidence and build their self-esteem. The goal is to let your puppy experience success through problem solving. So with the stair example, you don't want to help them too much, but you want to enable them to figure out how to put the paw down on the next step below if they're going down or on the step up if they're going up. Have them figure most of it out by giving them a little guidance.
Confidence grows when puppies discover solutions on their own.
Remember that mental stimulation doesn't have to be complicated. Even everyday activities can become learning experiences.
Ask for a sit before opening the door.
Practice waiting before meals.
Have your puppy touch your hand before throwing a toy.
Little moments throughout the day add up to a mentally healthy puppy.
Conclusion
If your puppy seems to have endless energy, don't assume they simply need more exercise. Sometimes they need more opportunities to think, to use their brain, and to be mentally stimulated. A mentally stimulated puppy is often calmer, more confident, and easier to live with. Try adding one or two of these ideas this week and see how your puppy responds.
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